This invention relates generally to the surgical arts, and more particularly to a vascular clip for surgical purposes, especially for neurosurgical purposes, e.g., for pinching an aneurysm.
U.S. Pat. No. 1,741,457 discloses a surgical vascular clip which has two jaws and a coil spring for pressing the jaws together. The spring includes two bent legs that are joined resiliently to one another by a loop. The loop runs generally parallel to a plane, whereby the legs cross each other at a crossing point and are held together at that point by a connecting member which is slidable along both legs. The jaws are disposed beyond the crossing point at the ends of the legs.
It has been found, however, that the overall size of this prior art clip in relation to its clamping or pinching surfaces is much too large to be used for neurosurgical purposes, especially in the brain. The connecting member, which is slidable along both bent leg ends and holds the leg ends together, is formed as a claw which is bent from a single piece of wire. However, since a vascular clip for neurosurgical purposes should have a total length of no more than approximately 10 mm, it is practically impossible to produce a claw that is small enough to be compatible with a clip of this size, Also, the ends of the claw-shaped connecting piece form little hooks which can be extremely dangerous when using the clip in the area of the brain.
A further disadvantage of the aforementioned prior art vascular clip is that the sliding of the bent leg ends in relation to the claw is greatly impeded. This impediment results from the fact that the claw is slidable along one leg while the other leg extends through the claw generally perpendicularly thereto. Moreover, the portion of the leg which extends through the claw also moves laterally toward the adjoining portion of the first leg during closing or opening of the clip in such a manner that the first leg is pressed into a wedge-shaped angle space formed by the claw and the other leg. The pinching thus caused impedes the movement of both legs relative to one another.